National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 1520:2026. It supersedes BS EN 1520:2011, which is withdrawn.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication has been prepared under a mandate given to the European Standards Organizations by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association. It is intended to support requirements of the EU legislation detailed in the European Foreword. A European Annex, usually Annex ZA or ZZ, describes how this publication relates to that EU legislation.

For the Great Britain market (England, Scotland and Wales), if UK Government has designated this publication for conformity with UKCA marking (or similar) legislation, it may contain an additional National Annex. Where such a National Annex exists, it shows the correlation between this publication and the relevant UK legislation. If there is no National Annex of this kind, the relevant Annex ZA or ZZ in the body of the European text will indicate the relationship to UK regulation applicable in Great Britain. References to EU legislation may need to be read in accordance with the UK designation and the applicable UK law. Further information on designated standards can be found at www.bsigroup.com/standardsandregulation.

For the Northern Ireland market, UK law will continue to implement relevant EU law subject to periodic confirmation. Therefore Annex ZA/ZZ in the European text, and references to EU legislation, are still valid for this market.

UK Government is responsible for legislation. For information on legislation and policies relating to that legislation, consult the relevant pages of www.gov.uk.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 July 2026.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 22 June 2026.

This European Standard was corrected and reissued by the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre on 7 October 2026.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 1520:2026) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 177 “Prefabricated reinforced elements of autoclaved aerated concrete or lightweight aggregate concrete with open structure”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by January 2027, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by April 2028.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document supersedes EN 1520:2011.

EN 1520:2026 includes the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 1520:2011:

the references to EN 206 have been replaced with the corresponding technical content,
Annex ZA considering the standardization request addressed to CEN by the European Commission has been updated.
the text has been adjusted to the standardization request to the European Committee for Standardization as regards precast concrete products in support of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011;
terms and definitions have been updated;
the order of clauses has been changed;
normative references have been updated, adjusted and dated;
properties and requirements of elements have been adapted, e.g. acoustic properties, thermal resistance.

This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its Member States.

For the relationship with EU Legislation, see informative Annex ZA, which is an integral part of this document.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

1 Scope

This document covers, regardless of if manufactured in factories or in temporary plants on site under the same conditions, precast concrete elements made of lightweight concrete with an open structure, and with a dry density between 400 and 2000 kg/m³, intended to be used as structural element:

solid, hollow core and multilayer load-bearing wall elements;
retaining wall elements, excluding retaining walls intended to retain tanks or reservoirs of liquids and diaphragm walls (concrete sheet piling);
solid, hollow core and multilayer roof elements, excluding ribbed floor elements and floor slabs elements;
solid, hollow core and multilayer floor elements excluding floor elements with the intended use to carry traffic loads;
solid and hollow core beams;
solid piers.

This document covers, regardless of if manufactured in factories or in temporary plants on site under the same conditions, precast concrete elements made of lightweight concrete with an open structure, and with a dry density between 400 and 2000 kg/m³, intended for not to be used as structural use:

solid, hollow core and multilayer non-loadbearing wall elements;
cladding elements;
rectangular cross-section box culverts;
components for noise barriers.

NOTE In addition to their loadbearing and encasing function, elements can also be used to provide fire resistance, sound insulation and thermal insulation.

Recycled lightweight concrete with an open structure (other than closed-loop recycling during production) is covered by this document.

2 Normative references

3 Terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviations

3.1 Terms and definitions

3.2 Symbols

3.3 Abbreviations

4 Characteristics

4.1 Concrete

4.2 Reinforcing steel

4.3 Mechanical performance

4.4 Fire performance

4.5 Thermal performance

4.6 Water performance

4.7 Acoustic performance

4.8 Other performances

4.9 Release of dangerous substances — indoor air

4.10 Release of dangerous substances — soil and ground water

4.11 Environmental sustainability

4.12 Documents attached to the declaration of performances

5 Testing, assessment and sampling methods

5.1 Lightweight concrete with an open structure

5.2 Reinforcing steel

5.3 Mechanical performance

5.4 Fire performance

5.5 Thermal performance

5.6 Water performance

5.7 Acoustic performance

5.8 Other performances

5.9 Release of dangerous substances — indoor air

5.10 Release of dangerous substances — soil and ground water

5.11 Environmental sustainability

5.12 Performances in attached documentation of the product

6 Assessment and verification of constancy of performance — AVCP

6.1 General

6.2 Assessment of performance

6.3 Verification of constancy of performance

Bibliography